Reviews by Yesac:

A- Dark brown in color, small off-white/brown head that quickly fades and moves to a ring around the glass.

S- Ah that all familiar barleywine aroma. This one is potent and sets a good expectation of a delicious beer. Big bourbon and bourbon barrel on the nose. Followed by syrup, and some fruits.

T-Along with smell.. bouron on the nose some hints of caramel, syrup, vanilla, fruits, sweet malt, slight barrel earthy finish. Everything is so very well balanced, I see why this is the #1 barleywine.

M- Medium/thick body, medium carbonation. Excellent coating on the palate, not to sticky. Just right.

O- A perfect storm indeed. This thing smells awesome and tastes just as great. What a pleasure to drink.

More User Reviews:

Strong bourbon, boozy aroma. Plenty of toffee, chocolate, dark fruit, and oak. Nuts and caramel grain. Coconut and vanilla. The more I sniff this brew, the more it reminds me of BCBBW, which is very high praise.

Flavor follows. It's strong and sweet, with chocolate and bourbon up front, and a massive, coconut-and-vanilla bourbon finish. All along, brown sugar, toffee, caramel, and fruit ride along the bourbon wave.

Shockingly thick feel. Very full bodied, but still lively. Clearly a hot brew, but easy drinking considering the 14% ABV.

As a very rare occasion, this is the kind of brew that truly lives up to the hype. I mentioned that the aroma reminded me of BCBBW; the flavor and feel do, as well. Exceptional BA BW.

More, perhaps, than any other beer I've yet tried, this one manages to walk the fine line between being utterly undrinkable (on account, mostly, of its intense sweetness) and being utterly delicious (on account of its rich, malty flavors). A memorable offering, but if you have it in a bottle, plan on sharing that bottle one or two ways if you can.

This kind of beer is why I love English Barleywines. Intense aromas of vanilla, toffee, burnt brown sugar, last but not least - bourbon. It basically has the smell of anything decadent that I can think of. Taste wise - wow. The sweetness hits you but it's not just sweet, it has that in-depth sweetness that went beyond my expectation. It's basically a decadent dessert mingled with bourbon barrels. Tasted vanilla, brown sugar, maybe molasses, bourbon and others that I just cannot describe. Very full-bodied. Each sip is robust and the aftertaste is left behind tasting like...you guess it: more vanilla and bourbon. Overall this compares to the Bourbon County Barley Wine. Both aren't that different from each other and both are outstanding. Either one - you can't go wrong.

Aroma: Its too boozy. The alcohols over power the bounty of subtle aromas. But it smells like bourbon s'mores.

Taste: Some things in this world just taste like quality. This is one of them. It is rich, it is layered, and it is complex. The beer is 14% abv, yet drinking an entire bomber seems effortless. The bourbon flavor is dense, packed between notes of rich cacao and sweet cherries. It finishes long with a fruit leather sweetness and a bourbon bite.

Mouthfeel: The mouthfeel is oaky, tannic, and sticky.

Overall: This is, or should be, the benchmark for massive bourbon barrel aged English barleywines. Its drinkable, its sweet, it bourbony, and its expensive. But the dollar per delicious sip ratio is very favorable.

Hell yeah! Thanks to whomever opened this one up at a recent tasting (forgot who brought it). Never thought I'd get to try this one. Pours a deep-ass ruby-red color, appearing jet black underneath dim lighting. The tan head reaches about a quarter-inch, but fades quickly into nothingness. Aroma is dense, heavy, and robust as fuck. Loaded with sweet caramel, toasted brown sugar, molasses, bourbon, oak, wood, light vanilla, and candied dark fruits. There's no mistaking thing brew - it is powerful as all hell, and you'll know it after taking one whiff.

The first flavor to go to work on the palate is a delicate, yet strong display of booze-soaked raisins, dates, and juicy plums, with the booze, of course, being a whiskey-bourbon type blend. Malt bomb, incoming - melted brown sugar, thick syrup and molasses, more juicy dark fruits, and plenty of clashing cocoa and oaky vanilla flavors. This beer is sweet as hell, but never hits the point of being cloying, as it's kept in check by the dense oak and warm bourbon profile, making it insanely drinkable, even at a whopping 14% ABV. Nice, sweet molasses, vanilla, and booze in the finish; thick, syrupy mouth feel with a low level of carbonation.

Hot damn, this was an amazing brew. 2012 vintage. Absolutely delicious and dangerously drinkable given the pretty high ABV. Wonderful display of flavors clashing together with an addicting sweetness than never becomes overbearing. Well done.

While it may be English is style it displays a bit of rebellious Americana with the bourbon barrel aged character. Much mellower than previous years, not saying it is any less flavorful but perhaps a bit easy going on the palate. So many layers, very complex and with each sip comes a new nuance to pick out. Exceptional.

You can hear the head crackle as the remnant fusel oils lower it quickly, not uncommon depending on the freshness of the barrel from spirit to beer. Mahogany darkness in the glass, good clarity when brought to the light. Big bourbon nose from the first whiff, boozy with charred wood and vanilla. Some caramel and ripe fruitiness in the aroma as well. Semi-syrupy, full body; prickly, moderate carbonation. The taste buds scream of bourbon from the first sip--soon after is the Barleywine alcohol with its fruity esters that tag along with the fusel bourbon character. Sweet maltiness plays off of the note of vanilla. Modest hopping, though the alcohol and wood keep any trait from going cloyingly sweet. The wood flavor actually cuts deeper than we thought, but not to the point of puckering, just at a perfect level. Finishes with some residual sweetness, peppery alcohol and a smack of wood.

Nothing subtle about this beer. If you are going to name a beer "The Perfect Storm," it better live up to it, and Pelican without a doubt came through. Beer geeks, hunt this one down.

2012 vintage. Pours dark brown with little to no head. Aroma is so amazingly strong you can smell it as you pour. Bourbon, molasses,raisons, leather, bourbon, bourbon barrel, bourbon and more bourbon. Flavor is bourbon, caramel, dried fruit, chocolate with just a slight amount of booze. Heavy without being oily. Light/medium carbonation with lingering finish. An absolute perfect barrel aged barley wine that will only improve with age.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I were watching tv, and she suggested that it was a good occasion for me to "open one of your expensive bottles of beer". Since she's a hophead, I was a little hesitant to open a $20 bottle of The Perfect Storm that we had picked up on our last vacation, but she assured me that I could open whatever I wanted and she'd do her part.

I poured her a small sample in my 2008 GABF glass, and put the rest into my pint glass. That was probably a mistake because this beer deserves your best glass.

My first impression was that I was surprised how well it was carbonated. There was a good hiss when I popped the cap, but then even a few minutes after pouring the beer, there seemed to be a lot of bubbles coming off the beer long after the head had receded.

For the most part, this is a dark beer and there is very little to notice about the color. Every once in a while, however, you'll get a glimpse of a very dark red, sort of a garnet color that lets you know that there is a clarity to the beer that isn't apparent at first glance.

The smell makes you think that this will be a very sweet, if not cloying experience. You definitely get the smell of bourbon, as well as the sweet smells of malty chocolate and vanilla. I suppose the good carbonation makes these smells seem more robust than they otherwise would without so much CO2.

My first sip was not the experience that I expected. It was a lot drier than the smell would make me think. That first sip made me re-think this beer. If it had been an overly sweet, syrupy mess, I would have thought that the smell was a perfect representation of the beer I would be drinking. Instead, this beer is very well attenuated, and the bourbon, malty chocolate and vanilla flavors are present in a much more subdued and delicious experience.

There is another thing about this beer that is worth mentioning. It has a velvety smoothness about it that could easily be masked by the harshness of its alcohol level. The brewer has done a magnificent job of balancing the sweetness with the dryness to give a beer experience that is definitely worth repeating.

This is one of those few beers that I have had that make me question if the other beers I have really loved were really that good. I can see why Pelican has decided to charge $20 per bomber. It is still a great deal, even at that price.

this one was very good dark fruit qualities, quite strong on the alcohol and very difficult to finish a bottle even between 2 people. I did have it with only about 6 months on it. i want to seek out another and put 2 years on it before cracking it open